Driving to distraction: Talking on a hands-free mobile is 'as dangerous as drink-driving'

Thursday 6 March 2008 02:22 BST

Driving and talking on your mobile is as bad as drink-driving, say researchers

Listening to a mobile phone while driving reduces concentration by more than a third, a study has found.

The loss of focus is said to lead to the same mistakes that drink-drivers make, such as weaving between lanes.

The study examined the effects of motorists simply listening to a voice. They were not required to talk or press any buttons.

Marcel Just, a member of the research team, said: "Drivers need to keep not only their hands on the wheel, they also have to keep their brains on the road. Drivers' seats in many vehicles are becoming highly instrumented cockpits and during difficult driving situations they require the undivided attention of the driver's brain.

"The clear implication is that engaging in a demanding conversation could jeopardise judgement and reaction time."

The study, by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, found that listening to a mobile phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 per cent.

The results were based on the performance of 29 volunteers, who were asked to use a driving simulator while sitting inside a brain scanner.

They were told to steer a car along a virtual, winding road at a challenging speed twice.

The first time there were no distractions but the second time they were told to listen to a sentence and decide whether it was true or false.

Listening while driving resulted in lower activity in the parts of the brain associated with spatial sense, navigation and visual information.

Last month, the RAC Foundation found that nearly half of motorists regularly flout the law by texting while driving and a quarter have talked on a hand-held mobile.

The penalty for mobile phone offences was raised last February to a £60 fine and three penalty points.